Freight elevator pinch-hits at ferry terminal

The main elevator at the St. George Ferry Terminal will be out of service for the rest of the month, but anyone who needs to use it can ride the building's freight elevator instead.

Passengers should ask at the Railway ticket booth on the lower level, or any uniformed employee in the ferry terminal upstairs, and a staff member will escort them to the elevator.

But nobody told that to Chris Czerwinski of Great Kills, who was trying to get to a doctor's appointment in Manhattan with his son, Chris, 24, on Thursday.

The younger Chris is able to walk but suffers from heart problems and cerebral palsy and normally uses a wheelchair to get around.

Czerwinski said he asked a Railway employee how to get into the ferry terminal and was told "there is no way," other than walking up the stairs, which is what the two men ended up doing, while carrying the wheelchair.

"How do people in wheelchairs get around down here?" Czerwinski asked. "There's no contingency plan."

Staff members will be informed of the freight elevator plan, to prevent other disabled passengers from having the same experience.

A spokeswoman for New York City Transit, which operates the Railway, said the area around the elevator has been closed while the floors and walls are retiled, a project expected to take at least three weeks.